Mass. communities seek deals on nearby casinos

Tuesday

Jan 14, 2014 at 12:57 PMJan 14, 2014 at 12:59 PM

BOB SALSBERG

BOSTON — More than a dozen Massachusetts cities and towns located near proposed resort casino sites petitioned state gambling regulators for surrounding community status, which if granted could make some of those municipalities eligible for millions of dollars in compensation.

Under state law, casino developers are required to negotiate agreements with cities and towns designated as surrounding communities. Such agreements could include funds to help offset any impacts a casino might have on traffic or public safety in nearby communities.

Unlike host communities, the city or town in which the casino would actually be built, surrounding communities lack veto power over a project.

The state's three resort casino applicants — Wynn Resorts in Everett, Mohegan Sun in Revere and MGM Resorts International in Springfield — have until Jan. 23 to respond to the petitions. But the Massachusetts Gaming Commission said in a statement that it was strongly encouraging the firms to come to a "mutually acceptable solution" with neighboring communities without direct involvement by the panel.

Boston, Chelsea, Cambridge, Melrose, Saugus, Lynn and Somerville asked for surrounding community status for the Wynn proposal, which is likely to compete with Mohegan Sun for the sole eastern Massachusetts license.

Wynn on its own had designated Boston, along with Medford, as surrounding communities and had reached an agreement with the city of Malden.

Boston, along with Chelsea and Winthrop, had earlier been named by Mohegan Sun as surrounding communities, but Boston Mayor Martin Walsh has not yet agreed to the designation. Walsh indicated in a filing with the commission on Monday that he had not ruled out the possibility of seeking the stronger host community designation for both the Mohegan Sun and Wynn projects, if negotiations with the companies did not produce the compensation sought by the city.

MGM, the only western Massachusetts resort casino applicant, has reached agreements with six neighboring communities, including a deal with Holyoke that Mayor Alex Morse said would provide the city with $50,000 upfront and $85,000 in annual payments over 15 years.

MGM also reached agreements with Agawam, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Ludlow and Wilbraham, and is negotiating with West Springfield, where voters last year rejected what would have been a rival casino proposal. Hampden, Longmeadow and Northampton are seeking surrounding community designations from the commission.

In an unrelated development, commission chair Stephen Crosby and Karen Wells, head of the agency's investigative arm, asked a federal judge late Monday for more time to respond to a lawsuit filed in December by Caesars Entertainment, which withdrew from an operating partnership with Suffolk Downs after learning of red flags raised during a background check by the commission.

Caesars claims that it was treated unfairly by the commission and that Crosby had personally urged Wynn, a competitor for the eastern Massachusetts license, to remain in the application process.

Crosby and Wells are asking for an extension of Thursday's deadline to respond until Feb. 14, citing the complexity of the issues raised in the lawsuit.